U-M regents approve 1.1% tuition increase, lowest in 3 decades

Jun. 20, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The University of Michigan Board of Regents today approved a $1.72-billion budget for its Ann Arbor campus that will increase in-state undergraduate tuition by 1.1% and out-of-state tuition by 3.2%.

University officials say the tuition increase for the Ann Arbor campus will be the smallest increase in 29 years, but two regents criticized the university for continuing to raise tuition rates at a time when many students struggle to pay for higher education.

The increase will set annual tuition at $13,142 for in-state undergrads this fall and $40,392 for out-of-state undergrads at the state’s oldest and most prestigious university.

Under the budget, housing costs for the Ann Arbor campus would also increase, by 2.5%, costing students $9,996 for the fall and winter terms. The overall budget will increase by 4.55% over the current year’s budget of $1.65 billion.

President Mary Sue Coleman told the regents the budget will continue the university’s tradition of “continued excellence.” She said the university is dealing with “very tight economic constraints.”

But Regent Denise Ilitch said that universities need to stop making it more expensive to attend college. There needs to be “a relentless commitment to stop raising tuition,” she said. She noted that in-state tuition for undergrads at the University of Michigan has risen 63% over the past 10 years.

“This is a national problem,” Ilitch said. “The continual raising of tuition is not sustainable.”

She said students are suffering from massive college debt.

Provost Martha Pollack defended the tuition increase, saying that “our in-state tuition is lower than many other public” universities.

Pollack told the Board of Regents that the budget “ensures our academic excellence.” Before the meeting, she told reporters she’s worried that state cuts to the university could make it “impossible to compete for faculty” with other major universities in the future.

For students at the U-M’s Dearborn campus of the University of Michigan, tuition will increase 3.5% for residents and 2% for nonresidents. The Dearborn campus budget will increase from about $115 million to $120 million.

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The budget for the U-M’s Flint campus at the University of Michigan will increase tuition by 3.5% for undergrads and 3% for graduate students. The Flint budget will increase by $3.7 million to $102 million.

The budgets were approved by a 6-2 vote, with Ilitch and Regent Andrea Newman voting no.

Regent Mark Berstein, who campaigned for election last year on a promise to bring educational costs under control, called it “a game-changing budget that makes U-M more affordable, accessible and exceptional.”

“It’s a budget that honors the priorities that millions of voters hired me to advance as a regent,” Berstein said on his Facebook page.

The university’s business school will get the biggest budget increase, an 11.8% hike to $92.8 million, while its medical school will see the largest decrease in its budget, a decline of 6.75%. The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts will continue to get the biggest share of the budget, roughly $354 million, an increase of 4.5% from the previous year.